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- Title
The Tennessee Academy of Science and the Repeal of the Butler Act.
- Authors
Webb, George E.
- Abstract
The Butler Act, passed by the Tennessee legislature in 1925, is the most famous of the various statutes to restrict the teaching of evolution in the public schools. Not only did it lead to the notorious Scopes Trial that summer, but it remained a dramatic symbol of the antievolution movement in the United States for several decades. The Tennessee Academy of Science played an important role in the Scopes case at the appellate level, submitting an extensive legal brief challenging the law's constitutionality. The Tennessee Supreme Court nonetheless upheld the statute in early 1927 while overturning Scopes' conviction on a technicality. In the years that followed, occasional efforts to repeal the state's antievolution law surfaced in the legislature, but none gained more than minimal support. The Academy played no role in such efforts until the late 1950s, when the Sputnik crisis exposed the existing antievolution laws as scientific anachronisms. More troubling, these laws appeared to compromise the high quality science education seen as necessary to counter the Soviet threat. Although the Academy made clear its opposition to the Butler Act throughout the 1960s, the statute remained in force until 1967, when the legislature repealed the measure to avoid a pending court case.
- Subjects
TENNESSEE evolution controversy, 1925; PUBLIC education; PUBLIC schools; EDUCATION policy; CONSTITUTIONALISM; UNITED States. Supreme Court
- Publication
Journal of the Tennessee Academy of Science, 2012, Vol 87, Issue 4, p150
- ISSN
0040-313X
- Publication type
Article